A LIVERPOOL MP is confident she can persuade Royal Mail to reverse its decision to axe its Skyline depot at Liverpool John Lennon airport.

Garston's Maria Eagle claims Royal Mail's figures, which support the closure plans, will not stand up to scrutiny.

She called on Royal Mail to postpone the decision on Liverpool's fate and is seeking a meeting with Royal Mail's senior bosses and Stephen Timms, the DTI Minister responsible for Royal Mail.

Mail chiefs stunned Liverpool workers nearly two weeks ago when they announced the planned closure of the site by next January in a shake-up of its UK air hubs.

They have had a Liverpool hub for 24 years but said switching the work from Liverpool to East Midlands airport and on to the road network will save them £6m.

About 30 Royal Mail jobs are at risk, as well as 40 airport staff and 80 at Emerald Airways.

But speaking after a meeting of local MPs and Merseyside Communication Workers' Union acting branch secretary Paul Bennett at the House of Commons, Ms Eagle vowed to fight the closure plans.

"It was a very useful opportunity for Merseyside MPs to talk to the staff about their feelings on this and they are just as non-plussed about the figures being bandied around as we are. This £6m figure they talk about is a mystery.

"I have written to senior managers at Royal Mail for a meeting to justify how they have come to their decision."

Despite a pledge by bosses to consider alternative proposals from the union, she believes Royal Mail's directors will decide Liverpool's future at its October board meeting.

She also claims they have ignored the availability of Objective 1 funding for their Liverpool operation.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "To maintain a mail operation at Liverpool airport would cost us £6m a year. However, we have said that our proposal is subject to further consultation."